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The Mother-Zucker lost his job today, and I can’t help but wonder if Conan is secretly laughing. As I pointed out in yesterday’s Blockbuster post, I don’t usually rejoice at another’s demise, but I sometimes make exceptions. I’ll make an exception today for Jeff Zucker, who was the brains behind the Jay Leno/Conan O’Brien late-night debacle, and who handled his mistakes by pointing the finger at Conan’s failings, instead of his own. To quote the great Tim Gunn, “take responsibility for your own actions,” Mr. Zucker. As an aside, he also made a feeble attempt to smoke Conan off the air for three years, so that Conan could not move to another network to compete with Leno. It didn’t work, and insiders felt it was only a matter of time before Zucker was held accountable for his poor decisions. Zucker was fired by Comcast COO Steve Burke. If you would like a detailed account of Zucker’s failings while he headed NBC, then read Bill Carter’s fantastic book, Desperate Networks. You can also read Nikki Finke’s brief recap. How NBC kept him all this time, when he single-handedly sunk the network after NBC lost Friends, I’ll never understand. Oh wait — yes I will — It’s Hollywood. Here’s hoping that this gave Conan a slight sense of enjoyment.
I’m unsure who the culprit is at NBC who thought it was a good idea to return to Trump’s original Apprentice format, but they might be in the midst of a stern tongue-lashing. The Non-Celebrity Apprentice (my title, not NBC’s) aired to horrific ratings on Thursday, with just 4.5 million viewers. Why? Because no one cares anymore about non-celebrities on reality television. When The Apprentice originally aired, it was a success because of the gimmick format. Once people got used to it, they got tired of the show. The celebrity format resurrected it, because the public is actually interested in whether celebrities can rub two brain cells together. And with Bret Michaels’ surprise capability last season (i.e. he can actually make smart business choices that don’t involve how to avoid herpes from slutty hookers on Rock of Love), I’m surprised the producers returned to the original style. Good job, guys.